A view from 380 meters at the ICC (or NOT my cup'o tea )

I leave early, because today is Wednesday and I leave on Sunday, so it's time to step up the pace ;-)
When crossing through Sun Yat Sen Park, the forces of Tai Chi are assembling for their daily battle against air and age.










Morning rush hour is winding down, so the crowds are lessening.  Seeing the transport system working at capacity is a sight to behold. These pictures were taken when its morning work is already done:

I have to take the MTR only one stop, to Kowloon Station. This is on the way to airport and I never got off here, which is tooooo bad.  As soon as I stop of the train, I feel like Sigourney Weaver, who just got of the Nostromo and is about to encounter an Alien killing monster.

Since I have reached an age where I get scared watching scary movies, I prefer to think of this as a Temple to the Gods of People Conveyance;-)

When I arrive in the ICC

I only realized that this is a water snake when looking at it on the computer!  Good thing I took a panorama ;-)

That ALIENS feeling again ;-)

OF COURSE these are REAL orchids.

And these are real flowers in the LOO.  Ritz Carlton on the 110th floor after all ;-)

Snaky seen from one floor higher

This looks like some old Chinese or Japanese Master's work, but actually is mine ;-)  It shows me (bottom) and the tower (top left) reflected in a very thin sheet of water that flows over stone slabs.

C'est ne pas un tableau!

Waiting for SKY100 to open (it opens at 10:am):

Beautiful people for Ugly commerce ;-)

While taking these pictures waiting for SKY100 to open, I thought that Park Royal or Oakridge Centre in Vancouver could benefit from their example. And there's no debating that all these things are very aesthetically pleasing. But when I am writing this post in the evening and look at the pictures there is no emotion creeping up on me.  All of this gorgeous stuff has ZERO SOUL!  But what should one expect in a place that Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley call home.  All those energetic-looking people in their black suits, their US$800 shoes, and their Bonuses have to walk 200 meters around the far corner just to have a smoke.  And among all those energetic facial expressions there was not much room for smiles.  Except from three black-clad Chinese-looking people with noticeably cheaper shoes, which seemed to find something funny. Good for them!

The Usual Suspects

Hang on, there is some emotion after all.  Just look at this guy in the window-washing basket starting his day at 400 meters:

The view is nice, but the windows are at the wrong angle to be able to take fabulous pictures.  It is impossible to avoid reflections and the fogginess caused by photographing through multilayer glass at an angle.

The Harbour Master is asleep again?

As my friend Alan used to say: "BZ"

Even booze and a HK-style Ham&Cheese sandwich don't help ;-(

I am higher than the IFC !

Is that why they call it Hong Kong Island?

This artist's oevre (bottom edge) sums up the ICC and Sky100 for me today: Just a huge pile of ....

Did they think they were buying a sculpture of sea lions?

One more 'Art for Art's sake' picture, because my heart is already no longer in it; I just want to leave this place. The Moral: Avoid any place that is not ashamed to carry COMMERCE in its name ;)

I am glad to arrive home in 'my' street ;-)

This German's blind feet might put an end to this ;-)